What role did the bell and drum tower in Beijing play in ancient times?

The bell and drum tower in Beijing was used to tell the time in ancient times.

The bell and drum tower in Beijing is located at the northern end of the famous central axis. It is said that they were built between the Yuan Dynasty and the first year. In the past 600 years, they have been destroyed, rebuilt and repaired several times. At present, the main building of the Drum Tower was in the 18th year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1537), and the bell tower was in the 10th year of Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1745), belonging to the imperial city.

Not only Xi and Beijing, but also many ancient cities have bell and drum towers, which bear a sense of history and are full of fireworks. They will always be a special existence. According to "Beijing Bell and Drum Tower" (Zhu Yingli, Zeng, Beijing Fine Arts Photography Publishing House), "Bell and Drum Tower began in the Han Dynasty and flourished in the late Tang Dynasty."

Bell and drum chimes 108:

In ancient times, there were five classes every night (more, a time unit, each class is equal to one hour, now it is two hours), that is, dusk, which is said to be fixed and more; Shi Hai said two more; Midnight is called midnight; Crows say four watches when they are ugly.

When the Pingdan seal stone is brighter, it means dawn. Ding and Liang, both drum first and then bell; Second, on the fourth watch, you only ring the bell and don't beat the drum. According to legend, the beating method of drums is "tight eighteen, slow eighteen, neither tight nor slow eighteen", which is repeated twice, * * * counting the sound 108.

The bell tower is like a drum. Every night, Captain Gu Si takes the "aiming light" as the signal, rings the bell, closes the city gate and cuts off the traffic, which is called "Jing Jie". At this time, the bellmen in the palace and even the streets of Beijing, armed with gongs, bangzi and protective gear, began to tell the time all night to protect the safety of Beijing.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Beijing Drum Tower and Bell Tower